Chinese fraudster fakes superhuman powers to rob victims

Date: February 19 2014

Tom Phillips

A Chinese conwoman created a ‘‘superhuman’’ alter ego and claimed she possessed powers of invisibility in order to dupe her victims out of at least $22,000.

The 54-year-old fraudster, named only as Ms Yang, tricked two female lovers and one pensioner into believing she was actually ‘‘Mr Li’’, a ‘‘superhuman’’ police officer who not only worked for both Interpol and the Chinese Ministry of Finance but was also able to make himself disappear.

The confidence trickster’s supernatural cover was blown last August when one victim discovered she had been sharing a bed not with Mr Li but with a convicted fraudster who was in fact a woman.

Ms Yang’s bizarre campaign of deception began in early 2013, according to the Beijing News. Short of cash, she allegedly faked documents in order to gain access to an internet forum for middle-aged singletons. There, Ms Yang posed as ‘‘Mr Li’’ - a senior Communist Party official who boasted physical attributes that are normally the reserve of Marvel superheroes.

Under the guise of ‘‘Mr Li’’, Ms Yang set about identifying and seducing her targets, spinning them a tale so far-fetched it must have appeared credible.

Mr Li’s first victim was Ms Zhang, a 48-year-old who appears to have been instantly charmed by her suitor’s claims to be both a globetrotting police officer and senior civil servant with the ability to vanish into thin air.

Their relationship began in March and quickly blossomed. By June, with Ms Zhang head-over-heels in love, the couple moved in together.

Maintaining the farce appears to have stretched Mr Li’s superhuman skills to their limits. Ms Yang cut her hair short and deepened her voice when regaling her girlfriend with tales of how ‘‘Mr Li’’ had helped Interpol crack ‘‘major’’ international cases by using his magical powers.

Ms Zhang - described as ‘‘quite superstitious’’ by the Beijing News - was utterly taken in. When ‘‘Mr Li’’ claimed he had lost his wallet and needed cash to ‘‘receive international friends’’, she lent her high-flying partner a total of 120,000 yuan ($22,000).

‘‘Mr Li’’ promised to repay her and said the funds would help him ‘‘do things for the country’’.

But the debt was never settled. Instead, in August, ‘‘Mr Li’’ wrapped himself in a distinctly human cloak of invisibility and vanished from his partner’s life.

When a heartbroken Ms Zhang sought out her absent lover at the Ministry of Finance she was told no such man existed.

Meanwhile, ‘‘Mr Li’’ moved onto his next target, duping another lover, this time a 52-year-old woman called Ms Song, out of a laptop computer.

A third victim, a pensioner who was not named, lost about $750..

Ms Yang’s fabrications finally unravelled when Ms Zhang approached police looking for ‘‘Mr Li’’ only to be told that her crime-busting lover was, in fact, a 54-year-old woman who had previously spent 11 years in jail for fraud.

Ms Yang will now go on trial for the second time, according to prosecutors from Shijingshan in western Beijing.

The Telegraph, London

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